1. Field of the invention
The invention concerns a detection and display device for automatic service expresso coffee machines which automatically outputs and displays the number of ground coffee doses or the number of water doses required for the infusion phase depending on the capacity of the filter-holder bowl engaged on the coffee grinder or coffee machine bowl-holder.
In bars, drugtores, self-service counters, restaurant chains, etc., there are presently coffee machines designed to satisfy expresso coffee and coffee demands with variable strengths. They are generally machines which impose certain constraints on the operator as regards the commands, resulting in a loss of time, poor conditions of use and risks or errors which do not guarantee the required quality of infusion of the coffee. In effect, the operator can inadvertently press a water dose selection key on the ergonomic keypad which does not correspond to the quantity of coffee in the filter-holder bowl engaged on the bowl-holder of the expresso coffee machine, which can in certain cases result in overflow of the coffee, with the ensuing wastage.
2. Background Art
Water metering devices already exist for expresso coffee machines. They use a Hall effect detector with a body, a cavity formed in the body and closed by a cover, a rotor mounted in the cavity on the edge of which is embedded at least one magnetic part and a Hall effect detector mounted in a position opposite the path of the embedded part. These devices, used as flowmeters, do not cater for the above situation but can, however, be used to supplement the device subject of this invention.